The conventional ski pole used for alpine or cross-country skiing consists essentially of an elongated shaft having a point and basket at one end and a handle at the other. The handle of the pole is normally integrally formed with the shaft of a single piece of metal, although frequently the handle end of this single piece of shaft is covered with a finger grip. Because the pole is rigid along the entire length, skiers are frequently injured when the pointed end of the ski pole is engaged and rigidly secured in the snow while the skier is moving. This type of accident will happen, for example, when a skier is making a quick stop or turn. The skier jams the pole into the snow and occasionally will rigidly engage the pointed tip of the pole in the snow against a rock or underneath his ski while turning or stopping. At the same time, the forward movement of the skier causes his hand to move in the direction of skiing while the pole remains implanted in the snow. When this occurs, the skier's thumb is jammed against the handle end of the pole frequently bending it back and causing serious and sometimes permanent injury to the thumb joint.
Ski pole manufacturers have attempted to avoid this type of injury by providing handles with break-away straps. The theory of operation in providing such break-away straps is that the strap will release when unusual forces are applied to the hand of the skier, thus, presumably, avoiding the type of injury described above. Unfortunately, break-away straps which are frequently made of a piece of plastic integrally molded with the hand grip and appropriately split to permit ease in removal do not perform and function as desired. When a skier's hand is forced against the handle of a ski pole, the type of injury described above will occur even if there were no break-away strap, or for that matter, any strap on the pole. In short, it is the skier's hand rigidly holding the handle of the ski pole which is the source of the injury rather than a strap. These break-away straps do perform some function, but the function they perform is normally to avoid injuries to the wrist which occasionally occur if the ski pole is rigidly attached to the skier's hand.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved ski pole designed to minimize the likelihood of injury to skiers' thumbs when ski poles become jammed in the snow during use. A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved ski pole having an articulatable handle normally held in longitudinal alignment with the ski pole shaft during use, but which shaft and handle may be moved angularly with respect to one another upon the application of forces on the handle and shaft in different directions of a minimum magnitude.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved ski pole with a handle which can be moved relative to the shaft, that is inexpensive in design, easy to assemble and repair and inexpensive to make.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved ski pole construction having a handle that is designed to be moved angularly to the shaft upon application of forces on the handle and shaft in different directions and in which the minimum force required to permit such movement may be selectively adjusted.